5000 girls in Azerbaijan under 15 marry in a year
According to research carried out by UNISEF, more than 5000 girls under 15 had an unregistered marriage in Azerbaijan during the last year, the Azerbaijani news portal "Haqqin.az" writes.
As noted in the article, this fact was regarded as a violation of sexual rights. UNISEF sent a special request to the Azerbaijani government, which expressed extreme concern on this matter and which recommended to adopt specific legal measures in order to save the teens.
"However, according to sources standing close to the government of Azerbaijan, a number of government officials have tried to convince the representatives of the international organizations in the fallacy of such judgments, because it is not about sexual exploitation, but about marital relations," the portal reads.
The government of Azerbaijan also stated that this process takes place in provinces, and the government is unable to prevent the marriage of underage girls.